Stems erect, to 2 m, glabrous, or minutely glandular in the infl, the sides flat or shallowly grooved; petioles 1.5-3 cm, rarely a third as long as the blade, narrowly margined to the base; blades ovate or lance-ovate, 8-20 cm, sharply serrate or incised or doubly serrate, acuminate, truncate to broadly rounded at base, glabrous beneath; infl 1-3 dm, tending to be cylindric, rarely over 8 cm wide; cor 7-11 mm, dull reddish-brown except the yellowish-green lower lobe, sterile filament yellowish-green, roundly dilated at the summit, often wider than long; fr dull brown, 6-10 mm; 2n=92-96. Open woods, roadsides, and fence-rows; Que. and N.S. to B.C., s. to Va., Mo., and N.M. Late May-July. (S. leporella; S. occidentalis)
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.
Except for three widely separated locations, all of our specimens are from the area north and west of the Wabash River. It is infrequent to rare and usually found in moist or dry and very sandy soil. It is generally found in open, black oak woods or on wooded slopes, and less frequently along roadsides and on the right of way of railroads.
